


Sticks and Stones

by The_Last_Kenobi



Series: Whumptober 2020 [30]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Blood and Injury, Broken Bones, F/M, Gen, Graphic Description, Jedi Apprentice AU, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), New Apsolon, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, Protective Qui-Gon Jinn, Qui-Gon Jinn's A+ Parenting, Sensory Deprivation, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series References, Tahl Lives (Star Wars), Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27288232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Last_Kenobi/pseuds/The_Last_Kenobi
Summary: Jedi Apprentice series AU.Tahl Uvain is in danger, and there's no time to waste. Qui-Gon is desperate to find her.So Obi-Wan, desperate to help, tells a lie that will change everything.Written for Whumptober 2020Day 30 - Ignoring and Injury
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Tahl, Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn & Tahl (Star Wars), Qui-Gon Jinn/Tahl (Star Wars)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956463
Comments: 30
Kudos: 249





	Sticks and Stones

**Author's Note:**

> Nobody seems to like the JA fics as much, but I do, so I shall keep writing them.

There was an explosion.

A shower of rocks, a flurry of stone and dust.

Obi-Wan couldn’t keep track. He ducked and rolled, trying to avoid the worst of it, but as he disappeared behind cover, he felt a shock of pain up one of his legs.

Qui-Gon was at his side in a moment, scooping him up in his arms and making a powerful leap back to their other companion, Eritha. She looked terrified. Obi-Wan wanted to hit himself. The probe droid, their only advantage in finding Tahl, and he had just let it be destroyed. By _rocks_.

 _Idiot_ , he cursed himself. _Thrice-damned idiot!_

“Master…the droid…I’m sorry,” he gasped out.

The tall Jedi Master looked down at him, his blue eyes conflicted. After a moment, he seemed unable to respond, and he started to reach for the injured leg, trying to assess the damage.

Obi-Wan grabbed his wrist. “Master, it’s fine. It’s just bruising. We need to keep moving; we’re so close.”

Qui-Gon hesitated.

Then he nodded, depositing his Padawan on the dusty ground and turning his attention to Eritha. “You’re certain you’re all right?”

“I’m okay,” she nodded. “What do we do now?”

Obi-Wan pushed himself closer to the edge of their only protection, the wall of rocks they had jumped behind, trying to see over it while the other two talked. There was a rumbling noise, and he saw a large machine rolling around the corner, large as a tank. “Master, a mole miner.”

Qui-Gon turned to look, and then shouted in alarm as Eritha leapt on top of the pile of stones and ran forwards, throwing back her hood to reveal her face and raising her arms as if in surrender. The Master sprang after her, lightsaber blazing, and Obi-Wan was temporarily left behind.

The sixteen-year-old rolled back his tattered trouser leg, wincing.

He had, for the first time, lied to Qui-Gon—directly to his face, no less.

It wasn’t just bruising.

But he had seen firsthand how badly Tahl’s abduction was affecting his Master; it was as if all his experience had been turned on his head. It had been Obi-Wan who had kept them focused in the moment, Obi-Wan who had reviewed what they knew backwards and forwards, and advised patience. It was a strange, frightening feeling.

Obi-Wan wasn’t afraid of responsibility, but he didn’t think he had it in him to play Jedi Master and bear the responsibility for whatever happened to Qui-Gon’s dearest friend.

But he had to.

And he couldn’t do that if he went down with a damaged leg.

Obi-Wan couldn’t tell was wrong with his limb exactly, but it was already turning a mottled purple and was bleeding in a few places. It hurt terribly.

He didn’t know what the problem was, so he couldn’t even use rudimentary healing on it.

He could, however, push through the pain.

With a shuddering breath, Obi-Wan closed his eyes and _concentrated_.

* * *

Qui-Gon frowned at him as he jogged up to where the Master and Eritha were standing, talking to a small group of strangers. “What kept you?”

“Nothing, Master,” Obi-Wan said dutifully. “I just wanted to check something.”

For a moment, the blue eyes regarded him narrowly, and Obi-Wan was sure he had been found out. But as it had been for the past several days, Jinn’s usual perceptiveness and clarity were all taken up in finding Tahl and discovering the truth behind the turmoil here on New Apsolon, and he merely nodded and turned his attention back to the conversation.

Obi-Wan stood beside him, standing evenly on both legs.

* * *

They discovered the base of the Absolutes, the extremist group that had kidnapped Tahl for unknown reasons, hidden beneath the ground. Eritha was full of nervous energy, but she seemed determined to participate, and Qui-Gon wasn’t interested in sparing time to persuade her otherwise.

Obi-Wan stuck close to his Master’s heels.

He wanted to say _Everything will be all right._

He wanted to say _I have a bad feeling._

He wanted to say _We need to stick together, don’t let us be separated._

But Qui-Gon wouldn’t understand any of those things, or want to hear them, and so Obi-Wan said nothing at all.

The deeper they got into the compound, the more nervous Eritha seemed to become.

Suddenly, she said, “We need to split up, cover more ground! We’ll never find her in time!” And without waiting to hear a response she went tearing off down another corridor.

“Eritha, _no!_ ” Qui-Gon hissed, shocked, but she was already gone. The towering Jedi hesitated, glancing between where the girl under his protection had gone, and another pathway, where he must have sensed…Tahl. Somewhere. His leonine face went white. “Padawan, follow Eritha. Do whatever is necessary to keep her safe; bring her back this way if you can. Tahl’s in trouble. She feels weak in the Force.”

Obi-Wan dipped his head. “Then go, Master.”

Qui-Gon paused long enough to give Obi-Wan the faintest trace of a smile, and then he was gone too, and the apprentice was left behind to go after Eritha.

His right leg began to shake beneath him as he ran.

* * *

Obi-Wan found Eritha, in the end.

Along with her sister, mysteriously absent for the past day.

Alani smiled at him when he approached; it was not a friendly smile, but a cruel, triumphant smile. Obi-Wan rested his hand on his saber hilt, feeling his foreboding increase. “…Alani. Eritha.” He said flatly.

“Little Jedi,” said Eritha, which seemed a little much. She was barely a year older than him, after all. Then again, next to Qui-Gon Jinn and Tahl Uvain, he supposed he didn’t seem like much at all.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on here?” Obi-Wan asked lightly. He stopped a few feet away from them, leaning slightly on his left leg. “Or do I need to puzzle it out myself?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Alani said brightly. “We have what we need, almost.”

“Absolutely,” Eritha agreed. “We almost have what we need to topple the Workers and the Civilized, and then the Absolutes will have…absolute control of New Apsolon. We can make it truly _new_.” Another wide smile. “All we needed was a Jedi, and someone to take the fall. Tahl and your Master will do very nicely, I think.”

Obi-Wan had his blue lightsaber out and blazing in his hands in the blink of an eye. He did not attack—it wasn’t the Jedi way. But he raised it warningly. “We can’t allow you to do that.” And then, thinking quickly, trying to stall them—“Why even do this? Your father died for the Worker cause; Tahl is your friend! She’s devoted to you, she came running halfway across the galaxy for you!”

Alani looked uncertain.

Eritha had no such troubles.

She spread her hands in a shrug. “Yes, our sainted father. Who died for the Workers, and couldn’t be bothered to live for his family. We hardly ever saw him, did you know that? He passed us off to anyone he could, so that he could martyr himself. Everyone told us that he did it for us—well, then, we’ll take what we’re owed. We’ll take Apsolon.”

Obi-Wan stared at her.

Listening to this girl was like listening to Xanatos, his Master’s deceased, Dark-sider former Padawan. The man had been almost certifiable at the end there.

 _Didn’t Qui-Gon and Tahl have any normal, trustworthy friends?_ He wondered a little hysterically.

“And Tahl?” Obi-Wan heard himself ask calmly.

“Tahl…is useful,” Alani explained quietly. “She trusts us just like all the Workers do. We needed a Jedi. She came.”

“And she brought her lover, too,” Eritha mocked. “Qui-Gon Jinn will make an excellent scapegoat. Our tragically martyred father, our beloved friend Tahl mysteriously vanished, and a fool Jedi who helped the Absolutes in his desperate search for her. The perfect pillars for us to stand on.”

“You’re mad,” Obi-Wan accused. His vision was starting to swim, but he fought it, frantic in his efforts to stay upright. “And you won’t succeed.”

“Why not?” Eritha asked, stepping nearer to him. “Who can stop us? You?”

She withdrew a blaster from her jacket and fired without hesitation.

Obi-Wan brought his saber up to meet it, just as his leg collapsed from underneath him, the strain too much for his injuries.

He had channeled away the pain.

But the damage was still there, and when he glanced down, he saw bloody bone protruding from both his thigh and his calf.

Alani shrieked. Eritha made a sound of disgust, and stepped still nearer, blaster leveled at his head.

* * *

Qui-Gon chased the ghost of Tahl’s Force presence deep into the compound, his whole being focused on her.

He came to a dead halt in a dark, murky room containing a control center, a computer, and a strange cylindrical device almost as tall as he was, propped against the wall. Something about it beckoned him. Qui-Gon moved towards it, and his breath caught in his throat as the faint glow of the electronics reflected off a glass panel only a few inches wide and a few inches tall, near the top of the device.

Through it, a pair of familiar, gold and green eyes flickered open.

Tahl.

/ _Tahl!_ / he cried, pouring energy into their latent bond, forged decades ago when they had been small children. / _Tahl!_ /

Her answer was faint. / _Qui…You came._ /

/ _Of course I came_ / he answered, pressing his hands against the cold metal of her prison, searching for a handle. His fingers caught on a seam, and he dug into it.

A moment later, the door sprang open, and Tahl tumbled out. Her usually neatly braided curls were flattened and tangled, loose down the back of her shoulders; she trembled like a leaf, and even her burnished dark skin seemed sallow. For the first time in their long friendship, Tahl allowed herself to crumple against him.

Qui-Gon caught her, feeling concern spike, and adjusted her in his arms so that she was leaning against his chest, one of her arms loosely draped around his neck.

“Tahl, are you all right?”

“I…I will be,” she murmured. “Sensory deprivation tank, and…regular doses of some drug. Feel awful.”

“You’ll be fine,” he agreed, although he wasn’t certain—and that made him feel uncomfortably afraid. “How long were you in there?”

“Mmm…since Balog took me. Two days ago?”

“Almost three,” he said quietly, holding her closer, trying to will warmth and strength back into her. “But it’s fine. We’ll get you to Healers as quickly as possible. I’ll have Obi-Wan let the Temple know.”

“Obi-Wan…? Is he here? Where?”

Dear Tahl. She was always so kind to the boy. Always looking after him, even, and perhaps especially, after the disaster that was Melida/Daan a year before that had torn a rift between Master and Padawan. But all was well now. They were a team, and they had saved Tahl. Next they would save New Apsolon, and it would truly be well.

“He went after Eritha. She was very worried about you, but didn’t know where to look.”

“Poor girl,” sighed Tahl. “I wonder—”

Somewhere, far away, close by, Obi-Wan Kenobi _screamed_.

Qui-Gon reeled, his head exploding with the force of the Padawan’s distress. Even Tahl seemed to sense it, stiffening in his arms with a gasp.

“They’re in trouble,” she breathed.

“Let me carry you,” Qui-Gon said. “Please.”

Tahl nodded. “For the sake of speed, yes. Go!” He picked her up in his arms and ran, speeding back out of that miserably dark room, chasing a fading Force bond for the second time in less than an hour. They raced through the compound, startling a few Absolutes who shouted in alarm, some of them attempting to pursue. But Qui-Gon, even with Tahl in his arms, was too quick for them.

They erupted into a different room, much larger and more brightly lit. It looked like a hangar of some sort, although there were no ships or vehicles in sight.

There were three figures crumpled on the floor.

Alani was nearest, spread-eagled on her back with her neck at an odd angle.

She was dead.

Qui-Gon gently set Tahl down on the floor beside her, knowing that even in her current state she would want to discover the scene for herself. Tahl crawled to where Alani lay, and stifled a cry of horror when her shaking fingers found the girl’s body.

Qui-Gon looked at the other two.

Eritha and Obi-Wan were only a foot apart, collapsed on their sides, facing one another. Eritha had a blaster clutched in her hand, still pointing at Obi-Wan’s face; the Jedi apprentice had his lightsaber inches from his fingers.

Eritha was unconscious.

Obi-Wan was awake, but his eyes were empty as he gazed listlessly at the girl.

“Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon said slowly. “What have you done?”

“I didn’t…I didn’t mean to…” the boy whispered. “I lost control.”

And didn’t that strike horror into Qui-Gon Jinn? The last time an apprentice of his had lost control, he had tried to murder Qui-Gon—and then come back later and attempted to bomb the Jedi Temple, trying to kill thousands.

“What happened?” Qui-Gon said threateningly, his heart in his throat, suspended in disbelief.

“They…they were traitors,” Obi-Wan explained, still staring into Eritha’s sleeping face. “They betrayed Tahl, and the Workers. We fought. I…I lost my concentration. Alani went flying, she…she’s…”

Tahl was suddenly there, crawling to Obi-Wan’s side, her expression sad. She still seemed weak, but she persisted, dragging herself to the boy’s side and resting a hand in his copper hair. “Oh, Obi-Wan…”

She sounded so _sympathetic_ , but Qui-Gon still didn’t understand, overwhelmed with memories of Xanatos and his mad rage, his cruel plotting, his willingness to put allies and children in danger to achieve his revenge.

“I’m sorry Tahl,” Obi-Wan sobbed out. “I didn’t mean to, I wouldn’t—”

“I know,” she said softly. She began to stroke his hair, and then froze, her golden-green eyes widening. “Obi-Wan…your leg…”

“That was my fault,” Obi-Wan cried. Tears were running sideways down his face, pooling on the floor, but he made no move to dash them away. Qui-Gon stood over him, uncomprehending. “It broke my concentration. It was like—like a bomb, going off inside my head—all at once—and when I looked up, the girls were…and Alani…”

Tahl lunged forward, startling Qui-Gon, and lifted the hem of Obi-Wan’s cloak, revealing his legs.

Qui-Gon gasped.

Obi-Wan’s right leg was a mess, mangled and bleeding heavily, staining his trousers and the floor. Badly broken bone poked out from his flesh. 

“Obi-Wan, how long has it been like this?” Tahl cried, sensing the injury even without the use of her eyes or the full grasp of her other senses. “Were you _walking_ on this?”

“It wasn’t that bad at first,” Obi-Wan said numbly, lying limp and seemingly unconcerned by the massive injury. “I put the pain away. Just till later. Just till we found you... Made the injury worse. Didn't know. Put...the pain...away. But…” he took a ragged gasp, going even paler. “…it came out all at once, in the middle of the fight.”

“Like a bomb,” Tahl echoed, closing her eyes with a pained expression. “Obi-Wan, that was…”

Foolish.

Reckless.

Stupid.

Unnecessary.

But she couldn’t say that, not with the dimness of Obi-Wan’s Force presence, not with the size of the pool of blood beneath his small form. Not with everything he had done, just following his Master dutifully around.

“Obi-Wan,” Tahl whispered, reaching over and taking one of his white hands in hers, holding it tightly.

“They said…they were looking for something that would destroy the Workers…a List, of some kind,” Obi-Wan said, his words starting to slur. Still he stared at Eritha, and Qui-Gon stared at him, and none of them moved an inch. “They…Absolutes wanted a…a scapegoat. You have to…”

There was a strange pause.

“…leave,” Obi-Wan finished in a murmur. A faint frown crossed his face. “’M cold.”

“I know,” Tahl breathed, scooting closer to him, oh so gently pulling his torso into her lap and encircling him in her arms. “It’s… the girls…it’s not your fault, do you understand me? I forgive you. You did so well.”

Obi-Wan murmured something unintelligible.

She looked up at Qui-Gon with pleading eyes, begging him to do something, say something, offer comfort to Obi-Wan—

Obi-Wan, who was very clearly dying right in front of their eyes.

But Qui-Gon didn’t move, still horrorstruck, his mind flashing between images of Alani’s corpse and Xanatos’ murderous screams and Obi-Wan’s mangled leg, not able to sort the incidents into their proper order, his heart thundering with panic.

Obi-Wan’s eyes closed.

Tahl bent over him, one of her hands stroking his forehead, murmuring soft reassurances and sweet nonsense, like she did with the little ones in the creche. Normally, Obi-Wan would have protested. But much like Tahl had been after her emergence from the deprivation tank, Obi-Wan was simply too weak to speak out.

Instead, he relaxed into her arms, huddling into the meager warmth she offered.

“ _Qui_ —” Tahl said desperately, looking up at him once more.

Her face was stricken.

But even as she begged him, Obi-Wan’s eyes opened again and he gave a tiny sigh, sinking deep into her embrace—

And was gone.

Tahl looked back down at him with a gasp, turning his face in her hands, searching for signs of life. But there were none.

She bowed her head over Obi-Wan and wept, not caring for the blood staining her clothes, or for the image she presented, the emotions pouring off of her in waves.

Qui-Gon stared at her, and slowly, feeling a strange falling sensation, sank into a crouch by her side so he could see.

Obi-Wan’s blank blue eyes stared directly back at him out of his waxen-white face.

Tahl was still holding what was left of him, warming him, cradling him even though he didn’t need it anymore. As she had held and comforted him as he died, unable to save him but offering him what she could.

Tahl had helped Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon was beginning to realize that he’d killed him.


End file.
